Looking for some input from those with more wisdom/experience than me...

I have about 67 shares of Best Buy stock, and it's been doing absolutely horrible the last couple of years. I bought at $46.65, and today, it's trending around $22.18. So, should I cut my losses and get my money out while I can, or wait to see what happens?

Related, the CEO resigned from his position today, which pushed the stock up about 2%. Should I wait to see what happens with that, and if it continues to go up?

I could really use the money, as I have an engagement ring to pay off (which this will pretty much cover for me) and need to get money set aside for a security deposit on my new apartment.

i have no idea and cant help you but i have always wanted to get into buying and selling shares but would not know where to start hahaha

anyone?

If you want to get into it without investing right away, check out weseed.com. It's a stock market "game" site that uses actual data, and you can choose an amount to start with (anywhere from $1k-$100k) and start investing. Gives you good insight to different trends and the ability to see what would happen if you invest in a smaller, new company.

67 shares? How did that happen? You buy in 100 blocks to get better pricing.

Unless you think that Best Buy is going to collapse (unlikely) I would not sell. Buying high and selling low is the worst possible scenario. Real stock investors make all of their money off of people panicking and selling when the chips are down. WHen people "make" money in the stock market, they have to make it off of someone who lost money.

That doesn't mean that you should never sell low and I certainly don't analyze Best Buy's stocks, but that is a massive loss to be taking on a per share level.

I was in the same boat. When we were first bought out by Electronic Arts, I got quite a few shares (some vested) from it. At that time, the shares were worth about $55 each. I sold a few to pay off a few long-term loans I had. But then everything steadily started to decline and it's been stuck around $15 - $20 for the last few years.

My thoughts - if you need the money, sell it. I'm no stock expert and you might find a day where it bumps up a little more but, overall, I don't foresee them having a huge spike in the near future. I highly doubt you'll see it bounce all the way back up into the $40s this year. If you didn't need the money, no sense in getting rid of it and saving it for a rainy day... but sounds like you could put the money to better use right now.

I agree with Scott, but I would consider BB an overall risky stock if their restructuring doesn't work well and stay working. If it comes back up close to or a bit over what you paid I would get out then. Keep in mind the store closings have a goal of making the company more profitable.

I think Scott Adams has the best investing advice: Unless you are a full time trader, use an Index Fund. Over history, Index Funds are the consistent winner. They outperform everything else because they have the lowest overhead. They require no humans and so have more potential to make money than any other form of investing. Over time, they win.

Everything that isn't an equities index fund is more risky. Not that you should never diversify, but not until you have a substantial amount in index funds. Anything you do outside of that should be like gambling... fine if you do it with money you can lose and you realize that you do it for fun. Index funds aren't fun, they are "safe".

Best buy has been doing iffy in USA but apparently excellent in China. It's hard to state an opinion on this, it's not like they're close to what happend to Circuit City (at least not yet), but they're also not doing as good as they have been in the past.

Best buy has been doing iffy in USA but apparently excellent in China. It's hard to state an opinion on this, it's not like they're close to what happend to Circuit City (at least not yet), but they're also not doing as good as they have been in the past.

Keep in mind that stock prices rarely reflect the health of a company. Buying stocks is not about investing in the long term plan of a company but its ability to market its shares. Publicly traded companies are a bizarre thing and stocks become a weird consumer market where highly irrational purchasing occurs.

I guess my question would be... do you plan on selling them (in the near future) and just waiting for the best time (that is what your post sounds like) or are you contemplating just keeping them and waiting to see if it ever goes up to or past your original purchasing price?

Best buy has been doing iffy in USA but apparently excellent in China. It's hard to state an opinion on this, it's not like they're close to what happend to Circuit City (at least not yet), but they're also not doing as good as they have been in the past.

Keep in mind that stock prices rarely reflect the health of a company. Buying stocks is not about investing in the long term plan of a company but its ability to market its shares. Publicly traded companies are a bizarre thing and stocks become a weird consumer market where highly irrational purchasing occurs.

Absolutely, if they directly reflected the health of their company's most would be much lower. Heck, RIM would be paying people.

I have vested options with AT&T for around $36 a share. Got them when the stock was trading pretty low. I have friends who have options at around $60 a share back from 2000.

If you don't need it, ain't gaining any dividends on it, I say sell. Pump the cash into what you need, sometimes being more liquid is more important than long term goals. That's assuming you are not liquidating your entire portfolio.

67 shares? How did that happen? You buy in 100 blocks to get better pricing.

Unless you think that Best Buy is going to collapse (unlikely) I would not sell. Buying high and selling low is the worst possible scenario. Real stock investors make all of their money off of people panicking and selling when the chips are down. WHen people "make" money in the stock market, they have to make it off of someone who lost money.

That doesn't mean that you should never sell low and I certainly don't analyze Best Buy's stocks, but that is a massive loss to be taking on a per share level.

Where I buy you get better pricing based on your number of trades per quarter/year, not based on the number of shares bought in a single trade...... lots of times "67" shares might be cheaper per share, than "100"... Whenever I buy stocks I am basing it on X amount of $'s I want to spend... whether that results in 37 shares or 1200.... Where is it that you get a better price for buying in lots of 100?

To the OP, I have always believed in a very simplistic fashion, that you can only lose money if you sell for less than what you paid (no shit huh? lol) .. so I'd hang on to them. Anything could happen.. unless you suspect they are going to declare bankruptcy, then it might be worth it to hang on to them for a few years. If you are in desperate need of cash ignore all of that and do what you have to do.

Where I buy you get better pricing based on your number of trades per quarter/year, not based on the number of shares bought in a single trade...... lots of times "67" shares might be cheaper per share, than "100"... Whenever I buy stocks I am basing it on X amount of $'s I want to spend... whether that results in 37 shares or 1200.... Where is it that you get a better price for buying in lots of 100?

Normally, or at least traditionally, there was a trade penalty on any stock purchases made smaller than a block (100 shares.) Normally you pay a trade fee and it is the fees that really keep you from earning money on investing if you aren't careful.

Yes, bby share price has fallen a lot recently. It does however pay a 3%(at current prices) dividend. You should be able to get some cost basis for this and see how much you would really lose if you sold this. the cost minus any gains in dividends over the last couple years.

It is also a company that has outlasted a few rivals, sells nearly as many iphones for apple as apple does, and is usually the place most consumers go to buy shiny glowing electronic things.

Also, it is lagging the s&p 500 by a lot this year. if/when it bounces it going to take off, unless it really is headed towards obvlivion which i doubt.

I must agree that exchange funds are the way to go. Or stocks with good growth potential and a solid dividend

I guess my question would be... do you plan on selling them (in the near future) and just waiting for the best time (that is what your post sounds like) or are you contemplating just keeping them and waiting to see if it ever goes up to or past your original purchasing price?

At one point, I was hoping it'd get, at least, to what I paid, or close to, to minimize my loss, or make a little. I've had these stocks for 5 years and have been sitting on them to come back up after the huge dive a few years back.

I'm not "in desperate need" of the cash, but it'd be nice to have, especially since my tax refund has yet to come through. I don't really see BBY going bankrupt, but having the CEO quit and them closing 50 stores makes me iffy.

Thinking I may hold out to see what the stock does with the CEO position issue in the next couple of weeks, and if it hits $25-30, I think I may take the cash and run. It would be liquidating my portfolio (as it's the only stock I have, and I cashed out my 401k last year (long story)), so I wouldn't have ANY investments if I do this.

@S.A.M> I got 67 shares because of the employee option I was given that was discussed in another conversation in the community. They were given by the company at a reduced price, based on $X taken out of each check (I think I was contributing $20/check for about 3 years).

Anyone have any speculation that, if they did bomb and got bought out, who would buy BBY? I'm thinking it may be a situation similar to Circuit City, and if I were to wait for that, and get offered, say, $100/share from the buyout company, I'd be WAY ahead, but I don't know who'd buy them, let alone when that could possibly happen.

Yes, bby share price has fallen a lot recently. It does however pay a 3%(at current prices) dividend. You should be able to get some cost basis for this and see how much you would really lose if you sold this. the cost minus any gains in dividends over the last couple years.

Having no education in how stocks/investments work, I honestly don't even know what you're saying! I'm willing to do some math and research to figure out my best options, but I have no idea where to start. Is it possible to declare any sort of loss on it on my taxes next year to recoup the ~50% loss I took?

Hold on to it. They had a net loss of 1.5 billion dollars last year. The sold over 39 Billion Dollars of merchandise in 2010-2011. The are letting ppl go to cut cost at the corporate level. If your gonna sell/sell after the holiday season when the stock picks back up which it should.

Where I buy you get better pricing based on your number of trades per quarter/year, not based on the number of shares bought in a single trade...... lots of times "67" shares might be cheaper per share, than "100"... Whenever I buy stocks I am basing it on X amount of $'s I want to spend... whether that results in 37 shares or 1200.... Where is it that you get a better price for buying in lots of 100?

Normally, or at least traditionally, there was a trade penalty on any stock purchases made smaller than a block (100 shares.) Normally you pay a trade fee and it is the fees that really keep you from earning money on investing if you aren't careful.

ahhh okay I do not believe I have any such restrictions or limitations....... for me it is $20 per trade (because I am low volume).... so I add in $40 to the cost of anything I buy.. (knowing I will eventually want to sell it as well). If I buy 3 shares of Suncor, the "fee" is still $20 though. If I do more trades.... it can be as low as $9.95. I have no point of reference to know if those are disgustingly high or normal ....